You are what you eat: Ethnicity and change in Yucatec immigrant house lots, Quintana Roo, Mexico

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the role of Yucatec immigrant house lots in conserving traditional crops and cuisine, and to explain how they both are related to Yucatec ethnicity.;Grounded in geographical cultural ecology, the study employs a multi-disciplinary, case study approach with intensive field work to examine a population of 33 families originally from Chemax, Yucatan where household economies were based primarily on traditional Yucatec subsistence production. Families migrated to Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo in the tourist corridor of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, where they made the transition to a cash economy supplemented minimally by subsistence production. Data were collected in Puerto Morelos with a household survey, a house-lot inventory of plant and animal species, in-depth interviews, and participant observation. Qualitative data were analyzed by identifying patterns of behavior and responses to explain decisions related to migration, life histories, economic activities, house lot design and management, crop conservation, and practices related to cuisine by immigrants.;The study confirms that Yucatec immigrants' house lots are sites of in situ conservation of traditional Yucatec crop species and varieties. All immigrant households with house lots conserved traditional crop species and varieties within them.;Immigrant house lots also assure the conservation of traditional cuisine. The crop plants found most frequently in immigrants' house lots are fruits, vegetables, and condiment species that are either native to the Yucatan Peninsula or have long been used in the preparation of typical Yucatec dishes.;This study also points to the importance of cuisine as a motivation for traditional crop conservation since many crops with traditional importance are not available commercially in Puerto Morelos.;Ethnicity, or affiliation with Yucatec Maya culture, is evident in numerous elements of immigrant house lots. Many immigrants re-created Yucatec house lots in Quintana Roo with traditional house types, stone walls, house-lot layouts, using knowledge and practices associated with plant cultivation and exploitation. While immigrant families have experienced change in many aspects of their lives through migration and participation in the cash economy, house lots continue to be an important space for the expression of ethnic continuity.